Golden Open Acrylics are a line of slow-drying acrylic paints from
Golden Artist Colors. The increased working time of these colors
expands their range to include more traditional techniques once only
possible with oils. Because OPEN Acrylics dry slowly, painters who
cover their palettes or use sealed containers have been able to use
the same colors for weeks, reducing the amount of paint wasted and
preserving color mixtures for future use.

For a school assignment, I was tasked with designing a set of
unique promotional materials with resources and information about the
Golden Open line. Golden Open is a higher-end line of paints, so I
wanted the final product to feel elegant and premium as well. I
decided to create a custom deck of playing cards using the 40 colors
in the line, with additional printed material containing more
information.

Concept

I started by creating a concept for the deck of cards. My goal was
to have the cards be usable as paint chips, while still being
functional playing cards. The 40 colors I was working with fit nicely
into the number or pip cards of each suit, and I decided to detail a common
pigment family on each face card. After sorting, I was able to assign
each suit a color range: hearts were reds, diamonds were yellow, clubs
were greens and blues, and spades were the neutrals. With some
relevant pigment families on each suit's face cards, the deck was
built - now it just needed a design.

Cards

The designs of the pip and face cards went through several
iterations, including asymmetric pip cards, circular cards, and even
characters on face cards inspired by each pigment's properties. I
eventually decided on a mostly standard layout for the pip cards, with
the paint and Colour Index names in the opposite corners from the
number and suit. The face cards have a more specialized layout, with
an asymmetric layout featuring a short description of each pigment
family. These cards also have a prominent color wheel showing the range of
colors the pigment can produce and highlighting specific colors
available in the Golden Open line.

Other Materials

Along with the playing cards, the project also required a set of
printed materials with more general information about the Golden Open
line and the paints therein. I split the content into three seperate
items: a small booklet introducing the line, a pamphlet with a table
of paint data, and a folding color wheel with blending charts and
instructions.